


Home Sweet Home.

by heyitsnxel



Series: 30 Trope Prompts. [18]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: First Kiss, First Meeting, M/M, Orphan AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 05:27:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14970056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyitsnxel/pseuds/heyitsnxel
Summary: day 18: orphan au





	Home Sweet Home.

**Author's Note:**

> day 18: orphan au

Dan couldn’t really remember when it happened. He was so young and it was so long ago that the memory was nothing more than a faint blur, something close enough to grab but that he couldn’t hang on to. Not that he wanted to remember it. Why would he?

 

The day his parents died was best left where it was. In the back of his mind and out of his memories.

 

He didn’t remember much about his parents either, honestly. He was only eight when the police offer had come to the door. The man had been surprised that no one was there with him. Dan hadn’t known that someone should be. It didn’t matter though. The police offer helped him pack a bag and took him to the station, where he told Dan that both his parents were gone. A double homicide.

 

‘What’s a homicide?’ Dan had wondered. It was part of a conversation he wasn’t supposed to hear. It wasn’t until his teenage years that he learned what it meant.

 

He’d been tossed into the system the next day, straight into a foster home filled with five other children. He hated it. It should have been fine. What eight year old didn’t want a constant group of people to play with? Turns out, Dan didn’t. He had grown so used to the solitude of his old home, his parents leaving him to his own devices for hours, sometimes days at a time. He hadn’t ever lived another way. He didn’t know that it wasn’t right. So, the constant noise and socialization weighed heavy on him.

 

He isolated himself, locking himself in his shared bedroom until his foster mom had forced him to open the door. He watched the other children get adopted out, their new parents giving Dan a look of pity as they led them out the door. Dan wasn’t even sure if it bothered him.

 

He got bounced house to house for the next few years. Never staying long enough to grown an attachment to anyone, never really caring that he didn’t. Dan had gotten to the point where he didn’t speak. He nodded and gestured, no words ever leaving his lips. He didn’t want them to.

 

He was seventeen now. His antisocial personality and the fact he didn’t talk had gotten him passed up many times over the years for children who were ‘normal and happy’ and now that he was older, well, no one wanted him then either.

 

The house he had been living in for the past three years was constantly full. Even with people coming and going, Dan could tell the place was overcrowded. Every room had at least two people in it and Dan was unfortunate enough to be stuck in a bedroom with three. Some of the younger children had overheard the lady in charge talking about people having to leave. It made Dan sad to see them so panicked over something like that. He knew it wouldn’t be them who were forced out. It would be him, more than likely. He was one of the oldest, which meant his time left there was limited anyway.

 

* * *

 

 

“Hi!”

 

Dan’s head snapped up from where he sat on his bed, eyes narrowing immediately at the stranger in the doorway. He didn’t look much older than Dan, with a head full of dark hair and impossibly blue eyes that Dan could see even from across the room. The boy lingered in the doorway and Dan rose an eyebrow, silently questioning why he was there.

 

 

“You’re Dan, right?”

 

Dan nodded, unsure where this was leading. The boy sighed in relief, a smile spreading across his face.

 

“Great! That would have been so awkward if you weren’t. I’m Phil.”

 

And just like that Phil was taking a step into the room and holding his hand out in Dan’s direction. He must have looked like a complete idiot, staring at Phil’s hand blankly until the other boy dropped it back down to his side. He didn’t seem too bothered by it. Dan flinched when Phil took a seat on the end of the bed and brief look of worry flashed through Phil’s eyes.

 

“I know this is weird and you’re probably used to living here, but, my parents want to foster you.”

 

Dan must have looked incredibly shocked judging by Phil’s expression. His mouth had parted slightly, before clamping shut and now, he was watching Dan closely. It was making him shift nervously on top of the comforter.

 

“It’s nothing weird or anything, they just… want to. They’d been fostering another girl for a year. Her name was Hannah. Really nice. But, she got adopted a few weeks ago! Which is great, right? They called the foster service to see what to do and they told them about this house and how there were too many people here and then they saw your file… And yeah, I’m sorry. I’m rambling. I don’t really know what I’m supposed to be saying.”

 

Phil paused and Dan could tell he was expecting him to say something. He wondered if it said in his file that he didn’t do that. The silence was clearly making Phil nervous because he started rambling again.

 

“You don’t have to or anything. It’s completely your choice.” (Dan wanted to tell him nothing was his choice anymore, but he didn’t.) “They just thought it would be nice if I came and introduced myself and asked because… I dunno, we’re close to the same age and it might make you more comfortable….?”

 

His sentence trailed off into a question, eyes darting to the doorway as a few of the younger kids ran by. Dan followed his gaze with a sigh.

 

~*~

 

Phil had walked out with a promise to come back in a few days – or sooner, if Dan made up his mind – and Dan fell back on his bed. They wanted him to live with them. He wasn’t being forced on them. The Lester’s had specifically chosen him out of a stack of other foster kids. Dan stamped the warm feeling spreading across his chest out immediately. Getting his hopes up had never ended well for him, so why would that change now?

 

He knew that he was going to go. He hated it here and judging from what Phil had said, there would be no other kids there. There wouldn’t be hallways full of people, there wouldn’t be a constant hum of background noise or conversations, he wouldn’t constantly be getting bumped around because there were simply too many people in one house. Whether the Lester’s were nice or not, that already sounded way better than now.

 

He hadn’t wanted to look to eager though.

 

_‘I’ll think about it,’_ he had written on a scrap piece of paper by his bed. Phil’s face had lit up like a million stars and he had said that was fine.

 

~*~

 

No one really seemed to care that Dan was leaving – not that he blamed them. His foster mother put on an act, that Dan nearly rolled his eyes at, as he was leaving; hugging him and wishing him the best. Yeah, whatever.

 

And now, he was in the back seat of an SUV as Mrs. Lester – Kathryn, as he was told to call her – was talking a mile a minute about what was going to happen. She already reminded him a lot of Phil and he wondered if Mr. Lester shared the same personality.

 

“We’re very glad to have you, Daniel. I hope you don’t mind that you’ll be switching schools so far into the year.”

 

Dan silently shook his head. If anything, he was overjoyed to be switching schools. Kathryn had smiled into the rearview mirror and turned the radio up just a bit. She seemed to understand that he didn’t need a constant flow of conversation and unlike a lot of other foster homes he’d been in, she wasn’t trying to force it. (He ignored the warm feeling in his chest again.)

 

~*~

 

The house they arrived at was almost exactly what Dan was expecting. It was two stories, sided with white paneling and surrounded by a garden of mismatched flowers. The door was painted a light blue and a small wreath hung in the middle, brandishing a wooden “L” next to the fake flowers. It looked like a less perfect version of those houses he’d seen on the Home and Garden network – and he loved it.

 

“You and Phil are going to have to share a room for a while. We had the extra bedroom set up, but Phil decided he wanted to paint it yesterday and now it’s a mess.”

 

Dan slung his bag over his shoulder and nodded. He didn’t mind. He’d been sharing rooms with people for his whole life.

 

Kathryn led him inside, giving him a small tour of where things were, before she led him into he and Phil’s bedroom.

 

“Phil will be back soon. Until then make yourself at home, dear.”

 

With a smile, Kathryn disappeared down the hallway and left Dan alone. Phil’s room was surprisingly accurate to what Dan would have pictured too. It was colorful and full of random odds and ends. The corkboard on the wall above his desk was covered with Polaroids and notes. It felt intrusive to look at them, but he did anyway. Finally, there a bookshelf lined with books sat on one wall and Dan found himself walking towards it.

 

His scanned the titles on the shelf, tipping his head as he looked at them. There didn’t seem to be a genre unrepresented on the shelves.

 

“You can read whatever, if you want.”

 

Dan jolted, nearly falling over in the process.

 

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you.” Phil laughed as he walked in the room. He tossed a huge textbook onto the bed before falling down next to it. “How long have you been here? I was trying to get home but my stupid professor would not stop talking.”

 

Dan was taken aback by how comfortable Phil was in this situation. They’d only met once before and he was talking to him as if Dan wasn’t some stranger in his personal space. While Dan was the complete opposite. He was standing on the opposite side of the room, awkwardly looking between Phil and the desk and the door and then back again.

 

“Oh! I got you something!”

 

Phil jumped off the bed so quickly that it almost startled Dan again, rummaging through a bag on the floor. He pulled out a small leather bound notebook, a pen clipped to the side. He stared at it hesitantly before handing over to Dan.

 

“If this is like a super offensive thing to give you, just slap me or something. You haven’t talked at all, so I just assumed you didn’t. It’s going to be hard to get to know you if you don’t have a way to talk back to me though. So, yeah.”

 

Dan felt his grip tighten around the leather, staring down at the book like it was the best thing in the entire world. It felt stupid for him to be getting so emotional over a notebook, yet here he was. Gifts weren’t exactly a common thing in his life. Phil was rambling about how he was sorry, clearly taking Dan’s silence the wrong way.

 

_‘Thank you’_

 

He smiled, turning the page towards Phil. Dan could see the tension practically drain from his face, turning into a pleased smile.

 

* * *

 

 

The week that followed was a whirlwind of changes and emotions that Dan was not at all prepared for.

 

It started with the new school. Like he said, Dan was glad to switch schools. But he wasn’t expecting to be switched such a large one. The hallways were like a maze and he found himself lost more often than not. It only made matters worse that Phil didn’t go to this school at all. Dan had found himself growing closer to Phil than he cared to admit so he was disheartened, to say the least, when Phil had mentioned his college courses as opposed to high school.

 

But, overall the school was fine. Aside from constantly getting lost and the lack of Phil, it was fine.

 

The Lester’s were also a lot more than Dan bargained for. They all seemed to share the same personality – bubbly and talkative. They had a genuine interest in whatever Dan wrote down in his little notebook and the attention was a bit overwhelming for someone who hadn’t gotten any in years. Kathryn had taken it upon herself to find out what Dan was interested in. He had nearly fallen out when she suggested football, frantically shaking his head. In the end, Dan had come home to find a small keyboard sitting on his bed, a pair of headphones off to the side.

(He ended up crying about it later that night. Phil, thankfully, acted like he didn’t notice – he definitely did though.)

 

_Phil._

 

Dan found himself drawn to the older boy like a moth to a flame. He was practically hanging on every word he said. He considered Dan in everything he did, whether it was going out to the store or watching a movie on Netflix. He always gave Dan options, choices for everything. And it was obvious he wasn’t doing it just to be nice. Much like the Lester’s genuine interest in Dan, Phil genuinely cared about what he wanted. They ended up spending all their free time together and for the first time in Dan’s whole life, he felt like he had a real friend.

 

It made him happy, but also slightly overwhelmed. It was almost too much. This was exactly how he ended up sitting in his bed, knees pulled to his chest and staring off into space one Friday afternoon. He had been so lost in thought he didn’t even notice Phil walk in, he missed the concerned glance that he shot his direction, and he definitely didn’t hear him say his name.

 

It wasn’t until the bed dipped beside him and pulled his attention back to reality that he even noticed Phil was there at all.

 

“Are you okay? You looked kinda… I dunno. Not okay.”

 

Dan nodded. Then he shook his head. Then he nodded again. Phil’s face went through a million emotions before he frowned, muttering a sympathetic “Dan…”

 

~~_‘I’m fine’_~~ He wrote, scribbling it out as Phil read it over his shoulder. _‘I think I’m fine.’_

 

“You think you’re fine?” He tapped Dan gently on the forehead. “What’re you thinking about?”

 

Despite only knowing Dan a week, Phil had a knack for asking the right questions. Dan pressed the pen to the notebook page. He hesitated before he scrawled out a messy string of letters,

_‘Overwhelmed, I guess. I’m not used to this.’_

 

He waited for Phil to read it before gesturing around, hoping that he understood what the implication of ‘this’ meant. He watched the frown fall over Phil’s lips.

 

“Do you not like it here?”

 

The question caught Dan offguard. That’s not what he meant at all. He shook his head way too fast, way too many times. Scrambling for the pen that had fallen to the bed,

 

_‘No! I love it here! That’s the problem.’_

 

Phil looked perplexed. His face had scrunched up, reading the sentence over and over, until he finally raised his eyes to look at Dan.

 

“I don’t get it. How is that a problem?”

 

The pen tapped repetitively against the notebook for a while, Phil still looking confused and Dan still struggling to find the words to write. He finally settled on:

 

_‘I don’t think I know how to handle being cared about.’_

 

Phil looked between Dan and the paper his face gradually falling more and more. Then, he did the last thing Dan expected him to do – He pulled him into a hug.

 

~*~

 

All it took was that one little hug for things to change for Dan and Phil. In reality, it was just a hug. It really shouldn’t have meant as much as it did to Dan. But, it did and there was no changing it.

 

Phil became more generous with his touches. It wasn’t anything big. He’d rest a hand on Dan’s shoulder, he’d casually fix his hair without being prompted too, there was no hesitation to hug him whenever Phil noticed he was having a bad day. If Dan was overwhelmed before, he definitely was now.

 

But, in a good way.

 

He had only been there a month when Phil was unfortunate enough to read his whole life story.

Dan had been moping around the house all day. Kathryn was, naturally, concerned. But, she left Dan to himself, understanding that sometimes he just needed to be alone. Phil, on the otherhand, had immediately asked him what was wrong. The worried expression on his face was something Dan had trouble resisting. He hadn’t liked to see Phil sad from the moment he met him.

 

_‘It’s a long story.’_ He wrote. Phil simply said he had time.

 

So they had spent the rest of the afternoon recounting Dan’s times in and out of foster care, when he stopped talking, the many different foster parents he’d had. By the end of it, they both were emotionally exhausted and had ended up falling asleep in the same bed.

 

~*~

 

They were lying on the same bed a week or so later, some random show playing on Phil’s laptop. Neither of them were actually watching it. Phil was telling Dan a story of some weird man he saw in Starbuck’s earlier, animatedly waving his arms about as he went on. Dan couldn’t help but watch him. He’d never really been interested in anyone else he lived with. But there was something about Phil that was just magnetic. Dan admired the way his mind worked, how he carried himself. Sometimes he even entertained the possibility that he was jealous of him. And while that may be partially true, Dan was sure that wasn’t the whole thing.

 

Dan hadn’t even realized he was staring until Phil snapped his fingers in front of his face. Phil laughed at Dan’s shocked expression, quickly tossing an arm on the other side of him so he wouldn’t fall off the bed. They were close now. Phil’s chest was only a few inches away from his, his arm pressing lightly into the middle of his back. Dan could feel his heart skip and he hoped that Phil hadn’t noticed. He was looking down at Dan, a half smile on his lips and hair falling in his face.

 

“You tired?” Phil finally settled on asking, though he didn’t move. Dan just shook his head. Even if he wanted to talk, he was sure he wouldn’t have been able to with the way Phil’s gaze was lingering on him, his eyes dropping down to his lips. Subconsciously, Dan found himself pulling his bottom lip between his teeth. A nervous habit he had never quite grown out of. Then everything started to move in slow motion. Phil leaned down as Dan released his lip. He hesitated for a fraction of a second, before he kissed him so gently, like Dan was a piece of glass; Fragile and ready to break at any moment.

 

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have – I mean, I didn’t even ask. I’m sorry.”

 

Phil had pulled completely away, back against the mattress and arm draped over his eyes. His face had turned a lovely shade of cherry red and Dan fought back the desire to pick on him about it. Shuffling around the blankets for his notebook, he tapped Phil on the arm with it.

 

_‘It’s okay. You didn’t have to ask.’_

 

“Yeah?” Tracing his fingers over the paper, Phil smiled down at it before handing it back. “I just don’t want you to think I’m taking advantage of the situation or anything.”

 

Leave it to Phil to think like that. Dan shook his head. He wanted to make sure Phil knew it was okay. That he liked it.

 

_‘That was my first kiss.’_

 

The blush spreading across his face was impossible to ignore as he handed the notebook back to Phil. He watched as Phil read it, but his expression was impossible to decipher. Dan found himself fidgeting with the edge of the sheet, nerves at an all time high. It was unusual for silence to make him uncomfortable, but something about the way it was lingering was not sitting well with Dan.

 

Then Phil laughed. Not in a spiteful way. If Dan had to pick a word for it, it would be fond.

 

He brushed a strand of hair off Dan’s forehead. “Was it bad?”

 

“It was perfect.”

 

Dan paused, eyes wide. Had he said that outloud or was he just thinking it? Judging from Phil’s expression, the words hadn’t stayed in his mind. Phil looked just as shocked as Dan. His mouth had fallen open, eyes wider than Dan’s were.

 

Dan clamped his own mouth shut, sitting up abruptly on the bed. Phil finally seemed to snap out of his stupor and notice that Dan was anxious. The sheets on the bed behind him started to move around as Phil looked under them, finding Dan’s notebook and handing it to him again.

 

There was something about the small book that grounded Dan. His thumbs traced over the leather front while Phil lightly traced his thumb across the back of Dan’s hand. They were mirroring each other in a weird way, but Dan found it oddly comforting.

 

“You don’t have to, you know?”

 

Dan looked up at Phil, confused. His head tipped to the side.

 

“Talk. It can stay between us and I don’t expect you to do it. I like you-“ He poked Dan in the nose, to which Dan immediately scrunched his face up. “- whether you talk or not.”

_‘Promise?’_

 

“Promise.”

 

* * *

 

It felt weird to say, but Dan considered himself lucky. Turning 18 and being in foster care didn’t work out well for a lot of people. They were forced out on their own with no family, no job, nothing. It had always been one of Dan’s biggest fears when he was younger.

 

But, instead of waking up in a panic on his 18th birthday, he woke up with a smile. The Lester’s never intended to adopt Dan – thank God, because that would have been super awkward all things considered – but they considered him part of their family. He knew they weren’t just going to throw him to the wolves, without a penny to his name.

 

Dan and Phil’s relationship had only strengthened over the past year. They tried to keep it as secret as possible, considering the circumstances, but Kath wasn’t oblivious. She caught the shared looks, the lingering hugs. She didn’t call them out on it until a few months before Dan’s birthday. Needless to say, it had been an awkward conversation but they powered through it and somehow, Dan felt like more of a part of the family than he had before by the time it was over.

 

The thing that surprised Dan the most was his willingness to speak now. It wasn’t constant and it definitely wasn’t often enough to consider ‘normal,’ but there were days where he rarely used the notebook. He still kept it though, like a security blanket, and no one ever mentioned it when he used it.

 

~*~

 

“Happy birthday! You’re a legal adult one step closer to death!”

 

Phil had burst into his room, jumping on the end of the bed and tossling Dan about.

 

“Good, now let me sleep.”

 

“Okay, I’ll just go tell my mum you don’t want the breakfast she slaved over for the past hour.”

 

Dan could ignore Phil, but Kathryn was a whole other story. That woman was a saint. He jolted up in the bed, curls wild and eyes still half shut.

 

“Fine… Ugh, I hate you.”

 

“Love you too.” Placing a kiss on Dan’s forehead, Phil got up to leave the room. “Hurry up or I’m going to eat it all.”

 

* * *

 

On the wall of one of his old foster homes there was a painting. It hung just inside the doorway. “Home is not a place, it’s a feeling” was drawn across the middle, in a swirly calligraphy that made it hard to read. Without fail, Dan rolled his eyes at it everytime he walked through the door. It was such an absurd concept.

 

One he could never wrap his mind around until now.

 

There was no doubt in his mind now that home was a feeling and to him, this was home sweet home.


End file.
